Wireless communication networks may be used for numerous applications including tactical military and commercial applications. A structured wireless channel access scheme such as Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) may be used in an ad hoc wireless network. TDMA is a channel access technique in which a frequency channel is divided into time slots and each time slot is assigned to a user. Accordingly, multiple transmissions may be supported on a single frequency channel. In particular, a multi-frequency (or multi-channel) time division multiple access format such as Orthogonal Domain Multiple Access (ODMA) may be utilized. Multi-channel time-division multiple access is the subject of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,949,760; 6,317,436; 6,331,973; 6,487,186; 6,504,829; 6,515,973; 6,574,199; 6,574,206; 6,600,754; 6,628,636 and 6,711,177, the disclosure of which are herein incorporated by reference. The allocation of channel resources in a multi-channel ad hoc network may be provided by a protocol configured to choose time slots and channels that do not cause collisions so neighboring nodes may transmit without interference. For example, the Unifying Slot Assignment Protocol (USAP) may be used to monitor the RF environment and allocate the channel resources on demand. USAP is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 5,719,868, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference.
In an exemplary military application of a wireless multi-channel ad hoc network, military vehicles (e.g., tanks, trucks, airplanes, etc.) may include radios that act as nodes in the wireless communication network. One type of radio is a software defined radio (SDR). In certain applications, it may be desirable to split operation of the radio (or node) in completely different frequency bands or networks. For example, in terrestrial ground mobile communications a node (or radio) may need to be involved in a high capacity network in a first frequency band (e.g., in the UHF band) for short range communications and local Situational Awareness (SA) and also need to be involved in a second communications channel in a second frequency band (e.g., in the HF band, the VHF band, SATCOM, etc.) for reach-back. Typically, when operation in multiple frequency bands is required, a separate complete hardware channel is used for each frequency band. The use of separate complete hardware channel, however, may be costly.
There is a need, therefore, for a system and method for implementing multiple multi-channel ad hoc networks on a single hardware channel. In particular, there is a need for a system and method for dual- or multi-frequency band operation on one hardware channel. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a system and method that enables the interoperation of non-similar propagation channels on one set of hardware.